


Train Ride

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Hyuck's parents don't like him, Jaehyun just wants to have time with his family, Jisung is only mentioned as Taeil's son, Light Angst, Slice of Life, Slow To Update, Taeil's a dad, doyoung is rich, tagging is hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:06:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21883540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: 4 Men, 4 Stories, One Destination, and plenty of time between.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Train Ride

**Author's Note:**

> :DD think of this as a Christmas fic! Cuz i thought of it on a whim when listening to Coming home :DD

“Yeah, yeah, i know, i’ll finish it when I get back,” Jaehyun spoke into the phone as he struggled to pull his luggage past the few people moving through the train cart.

“Yes sir, i understand and i’ll have all the paperwork done as soon as i get back from seeing my family,” He says, before moving off to the side, away from the traffic of people as he listened to what his boss said.

“I-.. yes sir.. I'll have them done as soon as possible then,” Jaehyun says, just as the people clear the cart, and he slides open the door to an empty booth.

“Yes sir... Merry Christmas to you too...” He says, and hangs up, sighing as he lifts his suitcase up and places it on the rack above one of the seats.

He drops down on the seat, leaning his elbows on his knees as he stares at the screen of his phone.

“Just one week.. one week of no work is all i ask for…” he mutters as he rests his face in his hands.

He doesn’t bother looking up when he hears faint footsteps step onto the train cart, he only does when the door to his booth slides open, and he raises his head to see a young man standing there, nothing but a duffel bag swung over his shoulder.

“Um.. do-do you mind if I share this booth with you, sir? All the others are uh, crowded..” the boy says, messing with the bottom of his sweater.

“Go right ahead,” Jaehyun says, before burying his face in his hands once more.

He hears shuffling as the boy places his bag on the rack above the seat opposite of Jaehyun’s, before the boy is sitting down in the corner seat, fidgeting with his fingers.

It’s silent between them for the most part, until the boy speaks up,voice soft, almost scared of Jae’s reaction.

“Are you… are you okay?” Jaehyun lifts his head up slightly, sparing a small glance at him.

Jaehyun lets out a huff before leaning back in his seat, “not… not really… work is just… very stressful this time of year..”

“Oh.. well-” the boy stopped talking when the door to the booth opened again, and they both looked over.

They see a man — not much older than Jaehyun if he had to guess — looking a bit ruffled as he holds his phone against his shoulder, “do you guys mind if I sit here with you?”

Jaehyun shakes his head, while the boy across from him motions to the empty seats in the booth.

The man looks genuinely grateful as he sets his suitcase on the rack above the seat next to Jaehyun’s, before he’s moving to set the phone against his ear again.

“No need to yell in my ear, mom, I was just trying to find a booth to sit in, now let me talk to my kid will you?” the man says, before he’s stepping out of the booth quickly.

Jaehyun sighs when the booth is quiet again, and he glances up momentarily to see the young man across from him staring at the door of the booth.

“You know that guy, or what?” Jaehyun asks, and he notices it comes off a bit more rude than he meant it to be when the boy flinches.

“Ah- no, no, I don't know him.. he just.. mentioned he had a kid so I started thinking of my own dad..” he answers, looking down at his hands.

“Sorry..” Jaehyun apologizes, and as he leans back in his seat, he noticed the boy tilted his head, “I came off a bit rude, I didn’t mean to.”

“Oh! That’s fine, you’re stressed out obviously, i think the last thing you want is to share a booth with two strangers.” The boy says, a gentle smile on his face.

Jaehyun returns the smile, “well, we’re sharing a booth for this entire ride, maybe we won’t be strangers after this.”

“Maybe not,” The boy seemed to relax the more he spoke, before his eyes sparkled slightly, “my name’s Donghyuck,” he introduced himself.

“Jaehyun,” he replies, “where are you headed anyways?”

“Well, I'm on a break from my college classes for the next few weeks, so i decided to come back home and see my family for the holidays.” Donghyuck answers, the sparkle in his eyes fading slightly, but it reappears as quickly, “what about you?”

“Originally I was supposed to spend the holidays with my family too, but my boss decided to drop more paperwork on me,” Jaehyun answered, glancing up at his suitcase where his laptop was put away, “you can see why I'm stressed.”

“That sucks.. he’s not even giving you a few days off?” Donghyuck asks, and Jaehyun shakes his head.

“None,” he replies briefly before the door opens again, and the man from before reenters, shoving his phone in his pocket.

“Sorry I rushed out, I didn't even introduce myself,” he says, nose tinted pink like he was standing in the snow that coated the ground outside.

“No worries, seems like that call was important anyways,” Jaehyun says with a soft smile.

“It was,” the man says as he sits down, “It’s been forever since I've last seen my kid,” He says, seeming to soften at the mention of his kid.

“Anyway, I'm Taeil,” he introduces and Donghyuck introduces both him and Jaehyun.

“What’s your son like?” Donghyuck asks, obviously determined not to let some kind of awkward silence take over the booth.

“He’s energetic is all i can say,” Taeil says, grinning as he pulled his phone out, “he’s a little dancer.” He adds on as he opens his gallery and pulling up a video and showing it to the two men.

“Aw, he’s cute! What’s his name?” Donghyuck asks, holding Taeil’s phone as he watches the little boy in the video jump and dance around to the music.

“Jisung,” Taeil answers, grinning still as Donghyuck passes his phone back over, “he’s five years old and is already dedicated to the arts.”

“I wish i was that determined for something,” Donghyuck says, and Jaehyun notices the way the sparkles in his eyes die down again.

“You said it’s been a while since you’ve last seen him,” Jaehyun says, looking over at Taeil, “when did you last see him if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Uhh… maybe a year ago?” Taeil scratches the side of his head as he thinks, “I work and live in A small town while he lives in Seoul with his mom.. so it’s hard for me to come and see him.”

“Ah, sorry about that,” Jaehyun frowns, and Taeil shakes his head.

“Don’t be, i’m just happy his mom is letting me have him for the holidays,” Taeil says, smiling softly.

“It’s good that you get to see him,” Donghyuck says, smiling once more, “I can't remember the last time my dad went out of his way to come see me.”

“Same with my parents actually,” Jaehyun says, standing up to grab his laptop out of his bag, “can’t remember the last time I was able to sit down and talk to either of them.”

“College and work is keeping you guys from seeing them, huh?” Taeil asks, and both younger men nod.

“My boss buries me under all the paperwork he doesn’t wanna do, so I never have time to contact my family,” Jaehyun says as he sits back down.

“I try to contact mine but they never pick up,” Donghyuck says with a shrug, “I just don’t bother them anymore.”

“Parents should keep in contact with their kids, otherwise why have them in the first place?” Taeil says, crossing his arms as he leans back.

“It’s whatever now, i’m going into my second year of college so I never have time to call anymore now anyways.” Donghyuck says, messing with the sleeves of his sweater.

“Some parents just never call anymore,” Jaehyun says, typing away on his laptop, before the door to the booth slides open again, revealing a boy with hot pink hair.

He clearly looks privileged, if his designer jacket and shirt were anything to go by.

He promptly rolls his eyes before moving to call one of the train conductors.

“is there an empty booth on any of the carts?” They hear him mutter to the conductor, and Jaehyun and Taeil simultaneously roll their eyes just as the privileged boy had done.

“I’m sorry Mr. Kim, but every other booth is filled, you might just have to share this one,” the conductor says before walking off.

The boy huffs before stepping back into the booth, clearly not pleased as he lifts his suitcase up onto the rack before dropping himself onto the last empty seat.

He grumbled to himself as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, zoning in on whatever is on his screen and not even sparing a glance at the other three.

This is definitely gonna be a long train ride.


End file.
